By Future Craft Collective
How many times have you been out and about – on the road, at the beach or in the woods with a hankering to get your craft on but no supplies handy? Which always feels like such a shame, since nature, travel or even being stranded in a train station can provide such endless inspiration for your crafty endeavors. What we’ve discovered in our years of being on the road – both with kids and without, is that an inspired craft kit can provide you with infinite possibilities for creating wherever and whenever you go.
Our traveling craft kit is intended to provide endless hours of open ended inspiration. It is intended too, to utilize things you find along the way – be they items from nature or flyer from the lobby of the local welcome center. Your mode of travel may serve to determine the size of your kit – small, medium or large. But no matter the size, no matter the contents, the idea is that there is no vacation from making. So make your kit. Hit the road. And make something!
If by chance you decide to just stay put, there’s no reason not to have a box of inspiration to carry out into the yard.

Directions:

Find yourself a vessel. Whatever size suits your traveling needs. Cigar boxes, small suitcases, even cigarette packs, can serve as your craft kit vessel.
Of course the size of your vessel will determine what you pack in your kit. We made a small, medium and large kits to suit just about every traveling mode. In each kit, the items listed provide endless hours of open ended crafting fun.Small Craft Kit
If you are traveling ultra light or you just can’t fit even one more item in your carry-on, this mini-kit is for you just by using a small box or Altoid tin. Inside you can place a sewing needle, some embroidery floss and/or string, a mini pencil, some small pieces of fabric and a few small pieces of paper. The paper is optional though as most likely you can just pick up scraps along the way. Make a stitched postcard, mini prayer flags, or just embroider the jeans you’re wearing.Medium Craft Kit
If you are going to be on the road a while, or otherwise need to be able to tuck your kit into a purse, this medium kit packed in a cigar box is just the thing. If you can hook up with a smoke shop in your town, they still have cigar boxes believe it or not. And they are just as cool as they ever were.
You can pack some string (any variety will work), embroidery floss, wide eyed needle (large enough for string), small jar of buttons or beads, colored pencils, glue stick, small pieces of cloth (cut with pinking shears if you can), 4″ embroidery hoop, small sketchpad, small scissors or pocket knife, and pencil sharpener.Large Craft Kit
If room is not an issue, or you like to have something hearty to stick underneath your airplane seat, this cosmetic bag kit is just the thing. Scoring one of these at the thrift store would be your lucky day indeed! But any small sized suitcase will suffice.
Add to it what you like. We’re packing: glue stick, sharpies, water color pencils, string of varying weights and colors, needles, scissors, buttons of many varieties, fabric squares, embroidery hoop and a little sketch book too.
These travel craft kits will see you through any number of craft projects and provide inspiration all summer long. For our next CRAFT Summer Camp projects, we’re working on these leaves on a string and magic wands. Stay tuned!About the Authors:Future Craft Collective is brought to you by Kathie Sever and Bernadette Noll. Kathie is an accomplished seamstress, creator of Ramonsterwear Custom Western Wear, artist, and mother of two. Bernadette is a writer, co-founder of Slow Family Living, and mother of four. They have found renewed energy in their collaboration and are continuously amazed by the ideas, inspiration, and a-ha moments that have come from this shared effort.

I thought this was a great idea! I have so many odds and ends of craft supplies in my house… Ribbons, fabric pieces and craft paper that I just went bananas! I made one for myself and two for friends who are coming to visit soon. The train case idea was nifty too. I found one for only $4 on eBay.